What Now?

Killing intent surged through the forest clearing. Hyoga and his men had blocked the only path into the mountains, leaving the two sides locked in a face-to-face standoff.

A biting mountain wind swept through the branches, filling the forest with rustling leaves.

Hyoga's cold gaze passed straight over Senku and landed squarely on Li Xiang at the front of the group, undisguised determination lurking in his eyes.

The corner of his mouth lifted into a cruel smile beneath his mask. "Looks like I won't have to go out of my way to find you."

"How obedient of you to deliver yourself right to me."

Li Xiang refused to indulge his sneering provocation. She met his gaze and briskly raised her middle finger, making her feelings perfectly clear.

"If you're sick, get treatment. If you're not, go die. Just stop being an eyesore."

Her blunt, vicious retort instantly added fuel to the already tense atmosphere.

Hyoga's smile froze, and the chill in his eyes deepened as he sneered.

"Still so stubborn."

"That's all right. Once I take you back, lock you up, and keep watch over you day and night, you'll learn to bow your head and beg me, won't you?"

Li Xiang rolled her eyes, her face full of disgust and utter indifference.

"I seriously can't with you. You're a complete nutjob."

Wasting even another word on someone so obsessive and conceited was pointless.

Beside Hyoga stood a burly Bald-Headed Strongman, his body covered in bulging muscles.

He looked Li Xiang's slender frame up and down with contempt and let out a sinister chuckle.

"So you're Li Xiang, the one Lord Tsukasa cares so much about? You don't look like much to me. Nothing special."

In his eyes, this frail-looking girl could do nothing but run her mouth. She had no real fighting ability and was hardly worthy of being their opponent.

Li Xiang shifted her gaze and swept it over his hulking body, taking in the look of a musclebound, brainless brute.

"Do you mix protein powder with water and drink it like baby formula every day?"

"You've got nothing in you but muscle. I bet even your skull is stuffed full of it."

"A brawny, brainless idiot like you thinks he deserves to compare himself to me? Sure, I'm pretty 'weak' in comparison. At least I'm not stupid enough to charge blindly to my death on brute strength alone."

Her words alone struck the Bald-Headed Strongman right where it hurt.

Everyone fell silent, staring in disbelief.

Li Xiang had launched straight into verbal warfare, leaving the entire opposing group speechless.

Humiliated by her retorts, the Bald-Headed Strongman lost his sinister smile. Shame turned instantly to fury, and his killing intent surged.

"Enough of your bullshit! Take this!"

With that roar, he charged first. His followers answered as one, gripping their weapons and rushing forward in a dense mob to surround the group.

Just as the enemy closed in, a nimble figure darted out.

Kohaku's gaze sharpened as she unleashed a powerful, precisely aimed kick.

Thud!

The strongman leading the charge flew several meters backward and slammed into the ground, in too much pain to get up.

Leaning on Kohaku's shoulder, Li Xiang kept taunting him, every word cutting deep.

"Ooh, such a big mouth. Didn't brush your teeth before leaving home? Your breath reeks."

"Right, of course. Your side's so backward and short on supplies, you probably don't even have toothbrushes. No wonder your mouths stink."

The opposing men were so furious that veins bulged on their foreheads.

Watching her, Senku quickly caught Li Xiang's eye.

They exchanged a silent glance for a single second and instantly understood each other.

We've stalled long enough. Time to go!

They couldn't stay here. The enemy vastly outnumbered them, and a head-on fight would only put them at a disadvantage. Their best option was to retreat immediately and preserve their strength.

Li Xiang subtly signaled the others to retreat with her eyes.

Kohaku understood at once. She turned sideways and blocked another wave of attacks, giving the others an opening to escape.

Senku and Chrome followed close behind. Moving in unison, the group turned away without lingering in the fight and swiftly broke free toward the depths of the forest.

Hyoga barked coldly when he saw them flee.

"After them! Don't let a single one escape!"

His men immediately scrambled up and gave frantic chase, refusing to let them get away.

The pursuit erupted through the forest, footsteps overlapping and growing ever more urgent.

The group sprinted through one stretch of trees after another, but the farther they ran, the narrower the path became.

"Oh no, there's nowhere to go!"

Li Xiang's heart sank, and she skidded to a stop.

The others stopped too and looked ahead. There was no escape route, only an eerie depression releasing wisps of white vapor.

Pits covered the ground, their water a strange blue-green. A pungent, corrosive odor washed over them. This was their destination-the Natural Sulfuric Acid Pool.

And it was also a death trap!

The pool was filled with highly concentrated sulfuric acid, while lethal toxic fumes lingered around it. It was intensely corrosive. Touching it or breathing it in could cause burns and ulceration at best, or instant death at worst. They couldn't afford to get anywhere near it.

The deadly, poisonous acid pool lay ahead, and their relentless pursuers were behind them. Both directions were blocked.

At this critical moment, Senku's mind raced. "Climb the trees! Hurry!"

Trees were all they had around them. If they could reach the treetops, there would still be a way out, wouldn't there?

The trunks were rough and towering, with no footholds. Climbing them barehanded would be extremely difficult.

Chrome was reasonably fit and could just about haul himself up. Senku? As for Senku... climbing would be a real struggle.

Even the agile Chrome had a hard time climbing, making slow progress. One careless move could send him slipping and falling.

The pursuers' footsteps drew closer and closer. They could already hear Hyoga and his men approaching clearly.

With no time to spare, Li Xiang crouched down and braced a hand firmly against the trunk. "Chrome! Step on my shoulders! Hurry!"

Chrome didn't hesitate. He stepped onto Li Xiang's shoulders and leaped, catching the trunk securely before rapidly climbing higher.

Next, Li Xiang boosted Senku, Kohaku, and Ginro up in turn, helping each of them reach the top safely.

Within seconds, all of them had climbed the towering tree and settled on its high branches, temporarily out of danger.

Almost the instant they reached the top, Hyoga arrived with his men. They crowded beneath the tree and stared up at the group with icy eyes.

Enemies packed the ground below, while the cramped branches above left them little room to move. They were trapped.

From her high perch, Li Xiang looked down at the dense crowd and offered a calm warning.

"You'd better leave."

"This whole area is full of toxic fumes evaporating from the sulfuric acid. Once the mountain wind picks up, the poison mist will spread and cover everything, high and low. If you're not afraid of being poisoned to death, feel free to stay here and keep watch."

The acid pool's toxic fumes spread with the wind, seeping everywhere. Without protective equipment, the longer they stayed, the worse the poisoning would become.

Hyoga stared up at the figures in the tree, then at the white vapor rising from the surrounding acid pools. With gusts beginning to stir through the mountains, he knew Li Xiang wasn't lying.

But he couldn't bear to retreat just like that. Such an opportunity had been hard to come by, and he would lose it if he left now.

His expression shifted back and forth. After a long standoff, he could only grit his teeth and give in.

Weighing the risks against the gains, he forced down his killing intent and gave a cold order.

"Retreat!"

His men withdrew, slowly leaving the poisonous pool area despite their bitter reluctance.

At last, the pursuers were gone, and silence returned to the forest. But the group in the tree had fallen into an entirely new predicament.

They exchanged looks, their expressions darkening.

For this trip into the mountains, with Senku and Chrome originally planning to collect sulfuric acid, they had brought only three gas masks.

But there were five people in the group-Senku, Chrome, Kohaku, Li Xiang, and Ginro.

Above the sulfuric acid pool, lethal fumes surrounded them, and the poisonous mist refused to disperse. Without masks, they wouldn't last long.

The wind swept through the branches, carrying a faint corrosive odor as it quietly enveloped the entire tree.